I just got spit on. On purpose. By a bum in the street. Across at least SIX FEET of sidewalk that was between him and me.
When I looked back, he looked very self-satisfied. You’ll all be VERY proud of me though. I managed to hold my tongue. I walked away and looked for a cop. Last night, I swear I saw 20 cops while I was walking Snick. (6 of them were on horseback and all together, so I don’t know if they really count, but, whatever.) Tonight, no such luck. I finally saw one about 5 blocks from where it happened, which seemed pointless, and he was busy talking to someone.
I text’d a friend – because I had to tell someone – and he said I really needed to report it. I went back out and looked for the one cop I’d seen but I couldn’t find him again. All I could do was call 311 and report it.
I feel very disatisfied by that though. I want to go smack the guy upside the head (with protective clothing on, of course, he was gross). Don’t worry… I won’t. In the long wrong, he didn’t actually hurt me. (He just made me sick to my stomach for a few minutes.) And he did make me grateful that I still have some anti-bacterial soap in the apartment even though I’ve decided to stop using anti-bacterial stuff.
So, I guess that is that.
{ 6 comments }
eeewwwww, I’m sorry that happened to you!
Thanks.It was partly my own fault. I don’t normally walk in that area that late at night. I know better. I was looking for Benedict though (to give Chaos one of Snick’s old leashes and a new harness the pet store let me have cheap for her) so I was walking towards an area where a lot of the neighborhood homeless sleep at night.I was so annoyed last night that I couldn’t sleep for awhile, but then I thought “Here I am in my comfy new bed, on soft clean sheets, in my small-yet-cute, clean, air conditioned apartment while Mr. Spitter is sleeping on a piece of cardboard on the sidewalk outside.” I felt better. I fell asleep.And, honestly, a lot worse things could (and do) happen at night in NYC, so from that perspective it isn’t such a big deal (after you get over the total ick factor anyway).
While on a trip to San Francisco years ago, a guy on the street jumped in front of me, blocked my path, and yelled, “Give me money!” It totally freaked me out, and to this day, the memory is very vivid. Even after I moved to SF years later and got to know the city really well, the Union Square area made me nervous because of that memory. At least there was no spit, though.
Sorry to say, but you should have persevered and found a cop. This guy needs to be in the system… and now.
Before anyone accuses me of being a heartless bastard and not appreciating the hardships of being homeless… hear me out.
There is a sub-group among homeless people who are intimately aware of the discomfort their lack of hygiene causes non-homeless folks with whom they come into contact. Some of them use this knowledge to coerce donations out of people (e.g. standing in doorways and other close spaces where – unlike their persona – their fragrant odour becomes impossible to ignore).
Others are less interested in financial gain from their unkpempt condition and prefer to use their poor hygiene like a long stick with which to poke people. They do this to force passers by to acknowledge their presence. Deliberately bumping into people, or blocking their passage through crowded spaces is the tame end of the spectrum. At the aggressive/dangerous end of the spectrum are the homeless who spit, throw urine and feces, pick scabs and smudge blood… and other equally anti-social/dangerous behavior.
One of the real tragedies of being homeless is that one becomes nearly invisible… a virtual non-person. This sort of agressive behavior is a violent reaction to being stripped of their humanity and universally ignored.
Your urban outdoorsman falls into this latter category. His goal was probably more to force you to acknowledge his existence than to do any real harm. But his saliva, urine, feces and blood all pose serious health risks to the public. Imagine if he had landed a lucky loogey in your eye. You have almost no resistance to infection in your eyes the way you do in your mouth, nose and most other mucous membranes. If he had hepatitis C or AIDS or any of a thousand perhaps more benign health issues, you’d be in a world of trouble right now.
This guy has crossed over a clear red line from having been failed by society to actively trying to take revenge on society. That’s why he has to be taken off the streets.
David – I wouldn’t worry about this guy being “in the system.” I’m fairly confident he’s a frequent flyer. If I had found a cop, it wouldn’t have necessarily gotten this guy off the street for more than a few hours, but you’re probably right that I should have persevered. It was late and hot though and I was literally DRAGGING Snick around (he didn’t understand why we went back out).
Don’t assume that this this guy was failed by society simply because he is homeless. More people choose to be homeless than not.
hmmm… I started to write a lot more here but it was so long I’m going to turn it into a post of its own.
Sorry to hear that, it sounds really unpleasant.
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